Enjoy the Journey...

This is one of those projects that will never be finished, but I've been working on it on and off for four months now and it's about time I showed it to you! Without further ado, my first configurations box...

"Enjoy the Journey..."

First off was to cover the box using Tim Holtz paper and tissue tape. A sheet of patterned paper was cut into pieces to fit the back and base of each aperture.

"Stamped tissue paper"

The tissue tape was homemade by stamping distress inks onto tissue paper then cutting into strips. Lots of masking was used in order to get the effect of lots of layers of travel labels, and each label was stamped in its own colour, keeping the colours consistent for a more realistic look. The colours were chosen to match the backing papers. The strips of tissue paper were used to join the boxes and cover the edges of the papers by applying with a very thin coat of PVA. All the horizontal edges are done first, followed by the vertical ones.

"Paris"

The boxes each have a theme based on travel. "Paris" has an eiffel tower charm and vintage postcards with handwriting, printed in miniature and aged with distress inks.

"Treasure Chest"

This is what the traveller is looking for! The miniature treasue chest was made from card and covered in wood-effect papers then filled with beads and trinkets. I dug that tiny gold-coloured bracelet up from the garden so thought it was really apt for this project :-)

"Books"

I always take plenty of reading matter when I'm travelling - it's great for passing the hours in airports and hotel rooms. These little books are handmade by stapling tiny bits of paper and a cover on the spine, then giving each a title with a fine promarker. My favourite is "If they don't understand, just shout!" :-)

"Treasure Map"

Here's the map showing the location of that chest, and a lovely pen nib that was used to put "X" marks the spot! In the foreground is one of the embellishments made from stamping shrink plastic with black archival ink, cutting out with scissors, shrinking with a heat tool and gluing to the box with Pinflair or glossy accents.

"Medicines"

Every traveller needs a well-stocked first aid box, and these pills should come in really handy! I couldn't resist adding the funny looking cat, just the sort of weird animal you might come across on your travels abroad :-)

"Beach Fun"

I love the figure of the surfer in the background in this box, so this one had to have a beach theme with shells and sea creature charms. That bracelet came from a buddhist monk in Thailand and I wore it for years. This seems like a fitting home for it now.

"Vintage aeroplane"

This little vintage aeroplane is another embellishment made from shrink plastic.

"Don't care was put in a pot and boiled 'til he was done!"

Did this worry the weary Victorian traveller? Being eaten by cannibals? As a little girl, if I ever said "Don't care" to my Nan, she would say "Don't care was made to care, Don't care was hung, Don't care was put in a pot and boiled 'til he was done!". Perhaps that was the inspiration behind this main scene, which is the end of our interpid traveller. Lee sent me these fantastic stickpins and I knew immediately what I would do with them. They look so scary, they just had to be cannibals. There's a cooking pot full of skulls, skulls and fish bones strewn on the ground, bats peeking out from the rafters, a strange mask hanging for the main character to hide behind, and weird decorated poles (empty lipstick cases covered in gold peeloffs!). Could this be some sort of strange religious ceremony?

To the traveller I say. "Enjoy the journey, for who knows what you'll find when you get there!"

Ingredients:

Tim Holtz paper pad: Lost and Found

Graphic 45 paper pad 8" x 8": Tropical Travelogue

free vintage printoffs from the Graphics Fairy

wood effect patterned paper

scrap card & paper to make treasure chest & books

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz stamp set: Travel Labels

Tim Holtz clear stamp set:The Journey

Creative Expressions stamp set: Vintage Aviation

Distress Inks, various

Archival Ink: black

adhesives: PVA, pinflair

Shrink Plastic

gold peeloffs

charms & metal embellishments: skulls, bats, cat, used lipsticks, eiffel tower, fish, starfish, fish bones, drawbridge, shells, braid bracelet, beads, chain, decorative pins

two small vials of seed beads with stoppers, decorative stickpins, pen nib (all thanks to Lee)

Entered for the following challenge
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
The Artistic Stamper - Travel